Hatstall
by Aeilde Light
Summary: Albus P. W. B. Dumbledore has just entered the Great Hall for the first time and already loves Hogwarts, but he feels plauged by issues of his family and is unsure how he can make things better. this is just a oneshot


He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he entered the great hall. Everything looked so huge and so bright, and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore knew in that moment he felt at home. He walked with the group of other first years towards the front of the hall where the teachers sat at their table, waiting for the sorting to begin. Albus looked out over the crowd watching him and felt himself start to go cold with sweat. Hogwarts looked beautiful and comforting, but what about the other students? Would they accept him? His father had just recently been sentenced to Azkaban, would they judge him, Albus, because of that? He frowned. If so, it wasn't fair. Not because Albus wasn't to blame for his father's crime, but because, deep down, Albus was glad his father had punished the boys that had tortured Ariana. His father went to jail while the muggle boys had only had their memories wiped, and that in and of itself was unfair. The muggle boys should have gone to Azkaban, not his father who was only trying to defend his helpless Daughter. And Ariana…the Healers had said there was little to nothing they could do for her. Was she destined to spend the rest of her life with a broken mind and no father because their legal system was unjust? If the boys that had tormented Ariana had been wizards, they would have been punished appropriately, but because they were muggles, they were let off Scott free with a little less memory?

"Dumbledore, Albus Percival Wulf—" called a teacher standing by the front, breaking Albus from his thoughts. The sorting had begun and he hadn't even noticed. The teacher seemed to be having trouble whit his extended name, so Albus just stepped forward and walked toward him, saving the man the trouble. "Ah, yes, here you are!" the teacher smiled and gestured Albus toward the stool where he sat slowly, unsure of what to expect since he hadn't been paying attention earlier. Everyone was watching him and he felt his heart begin to race, but suddenly something was put on his head that was so large it fell over his ears and covered his eyes.

"Oh my, I can already tell you're going to be a difficult one," a voice seemed to whisper to him, but Albus wasn't sure if it was in his ear or in his mind.

"…I'm sorry?" he thought, not sure what to make of this.

"Well I can see plenty of intellect, Ravenclaw would gladly welcome you." The voice mused.

"Ravenclaw? Ravenclaw sounds nice I suppose, think they could help me figure out a way to help my sister?" Albus wondered. If there was a chance he could make her better again…but thinking about Ariana made his thoughts turn to darker places, and of the people who had hurt her. If muggles and wizards were only considered equal, his father wouldn't be in jail, those youths would be! Maybe, just maybe he could help not only Ariana, but all of wizarding kind and he could make the wizards and muggles equal. He could do whatever it took, no matter the cost, for the greater good of mankind.

"Oh dear… just look at all that ambition! Maybe Slytherin would be a better fit?" the voice seemed genuinely confused, and Albus was starting to feel like this was taking longer than it normally would, and that the voice was having trouble deciding.

"Ravenclaw, Slytherin…I don't mind either," he thought at the voice, "I just want to help my sister and my father, and to protect others from their fate. I want true justice for their sakes." He pleaded hard in him mind, hoping the voice would place him in the best place to achieve this.

"You just like making things difficult for me, don't you? You just had to go and be all brave and loyal and just… Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Gryffindor? Hmmm…I've never had this much trouble before," the voice pondered, genuinely baffled.

"I want to be where ever I can reach those goals." He thought determinedly.

"Brains of a Ravenclaw and ambition of a Slytherin…but you want to use these attributes to bring justice to the world?"

"Yes." He thought back firmly.

"Then I suppose there is one place that will truly serve your needs," the voice sounded relieved.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was lifted off of Albus' head and he blinked at the light, his eyes not quite adjusted after being in the dark so long.

"Are you alright?" a teacher holding a somewhat tattered hat to his right asked him, looking concerned.

"Yes, thank you." Albus nodded to the man and made his way down the steps to the table adorned in red and gold. He sat down next to a few of the younger students who looked at him curiously, but attention was soon redirected to the front where "Edgecomb, Thomas" was now sitting with the crumpled hat on his head.

"Wow, were you a hatstall?"

"A what?" Albus turned to his left to see a boy his age, and covered in bright green and purple splotches. Albus drew back slightly, recognizing the dragon pox.

"A hatstall. The older students were saying if the hat can't decide between one house or another it takes a long time to decide, and it's called a hatstall. They said you probably had one since it took so long..." the boy stopped, suddenly noticing how Albus leaned away from him, eyeing him warily. The boy sighed heavily and looked down at his food, ashamed. "I'm not contagious anymore," he said softly, "I almost couldn't come to school, but…well I guess it doesn't matter. I won't mind if you want to move, everyone else has." The boy poked at the food on his plate, not looking up and Albus glanced around. Sure enough, there were a few open spots all around him and the afflicted boy. He hadn't noticed when he sat down originally. Albus frowned. Gryffindor was where the brave were supposed to dwell, and yet everyone seemed afraid of this oddly colored boy just because he had had dragon pox. He could understand if the boy was still contagious, but he wasn't…

"What? No, I was actually wondering…what on earth is that?" Albus bluffed, pointing at an odd dish of blue tinged…something or other just beyond the boy. He looked up at Albus, surprised, then looked at the dish for a moment, his eyebrows rising.

"I haven't the foggiest…" he turned back to Albus.

"Wanna try it with me?" Albus asked kindly, and felt warm as the boy grinned widely and grabbed the bowl, taking a spoonfull. He then served Albus some of the gloop and they looked down at their plates queasily.

"Ready?" the boy asked raising his spoon.

"On three," Albus looked to the boy, who nodded. "One, two…three!" they both shoved the blue goop into their mouths and chewed slowly. Albus was pretty sure he had the same face the other boy did; one of general displeasement.

"It's like…shoe pudding." The boy said.

"Or cold fish sauce gone bad…" Albus concurred. They both swallowed their bites and looked at each other, and then they just started laughing. The students around them eyed them oddly, but Albus didn't mind. He had just made a friend.

"Yes," he said, calming down enough to talk, "it was a hatstall, but betweewn three houses, not two!" Albus exclaimed.

"No way! That's neat, I'm, Elphias by the way, Elphias Dodge!" the boy extended his hand happily to Albus who gladly took it.

"Albus Dumbledore."

The two of them talked all evening, and upon reaching the dorms quickly grabbed bead next to each other. Albus wondered what would happen when Elphias found out about his dad, but for right now, he didn't care, and he fell asleep happily in his new home.


End file.
